The Bessemer Superhighway was designed in the 1930s to be the nation's first freeway, said Joe Holley, a former administrator for the Alabama Department of Transportation.

The portion of the highway known as U.S. 11 was once a two-lane street between Birmingham and Bessemer that passed through West End, Central Park, Lipscomb and undeveloped land.

The road passed over numerous railroad lines that connected the coal mines to plants in Fairfield and Bessemer.

"Not only were the streets crummy, but you almost always got stopped by a train," said Holley of the route.

Designers set out to develop a new highway and acquired plans from Germany, which had constructed a freeway system known as the autobahn. Rail lines were relocated, many above the road.

However, the project fell short of the planner's dream due to financial constraints caused by the Great Depression. Planners were not able to acquire right of way and interchanges to make the road a freeway.

The road was still considered a marvel and was named the Bessemer Superhighway by the public, although state planners had envisioned naming it Birmingham-Bessemer Boulevard.

"It was the first divided four-lane highway in the state of Alabama," said Holley. "It was considered a marvel in its time."

Holley said the road would have preceded Connecticut's Merritt Parkway and the Pennsylvania Turnpike as the nation's first freeway had it been completed.

Lights were installed in 1940 and the Superhighway was for a time the longest white way east of the Rocky Mountains, he said.

Gas stations, subdivisions, drive-in theaters and restaurants soon located along the highway. The growth lasted until Interstate 59/20 became the main connector of Bessemer and Birmingham.